It was Ramit Sethi who really got me to accept the absurdity of measuring value in units of time. This is probably not a perfect version of the example he used to make his point, but it’s close enough.
Essentially, he said that if he were able to get a client $1miilion worth of publicity, he would have no hesitation in charging a $50,000 fee for that outcome – even if the only work involved was making a 10-minute phone call to the right person.
The value is in him knowing and having influence with that person, not the time it took to do “the work”.
It’s equally mystifying to me why some managers are still obsessed with who is working how many hours within the organization.
If your top salesperson is crushing her targets and outperforming her peers, week-in and week-out, why on earth would you care if she spends every Friday on the golf course?
When it comes to evaluating our performance at work, it’s time we all focused on outcomes achieved, not hours logged.
And let’s leave measuring or charging for value delivered based on units of time to people who have no clue about business.
Like lawyers.
Copyright, Hamish Mackenzie 2021
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